The American Connection Unit 6 Remember The Alamo TEACHER’S BOOK CONTENTS PAGE Curriculum 2 How “Remember the Alamo” links to the Key Stage 3 curriculum requirements Background Notes 4 The historical background to the story of the Siege at the Alamo Answer Sheets 12 Assessment Sheets 15 TEACHER Unit 6 : Remember the Alamo NOTES This unit of work on the Siege at the Alamo gives pupils the opportunity to : • Hear the story of the heroes of the Alamo • Practise research skills • Use imagination to write a diary entry • Find out about Scots-Irish hero Davy Crockett • Listen to a folk song of the event • Discuss a social issue • Learn to ‘read’ and analyse a media text • Review a film • Create their own advertisement • Listen to and write a rap KEY STAGE 3 CURRICULUM The activities in this unit would fit into work on aspects of the General Learning Areas of English including Media Education and Drama; Environment and Society including Geography and History; the Arts Music strand and also link into aspects of Citizenship. The unit provides opportunities to teach, practise and assess some of the following skills and capabilities: • Critical and Creative Thinking Skills—creativity; managing information; problem solving/decision making • Personal and Interpersonal Skills—self management, working with others • Communication • ICT Aim and Objectives of TEACHER the NI Curriculum NOTES Aim The Northern Ireland Curriculum aims to empower young people to achieve their potential and to make informed and responsible choices and decisions throughout life. Curriculum Objectives The Northern Ireland Curriculum should provide learning opportunities for each young person to develop as: 1. An individual 2. A contributor to society; and 3. A contributor to the economy and the environment Work in this unit ‘’Remember the Alamo” provides opportunities for pupils to : As an individual • Be aware of their creative potential (personal understanding) • Respect and cooperate with others (mutual understanding) • Be reliable and committed to tasks (moral character) As a contributor to society • Recognise the interdependence of people (citizenship) • Negotiate and compromise (citizenship) • Recognise the richness and diversity of cultural influences in contemporary society (cultural understanding) • Be critically aware of the range of print sound, moving image and graphic media (media awareness) Learning Experiences • Challenging and engaging • Linked to other curriculum areas • Media rich • Skills integrated • Active and hands on • Offers choice • Varied to suit learning styles • On-going reflection The American Connection BACKGROUND NOTES An Introduction The links between the United States of America and Ireland are well-known with many major American cities choosing to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. It is estimated that there are some 44 million people in the United States today who claim to be of Irish extraction. What is not so well-known is that over 50% of Americans with Irish roots are the descendents of Scots-Irish Presbyterians who settled the eastern states and then moved westwards in the 18th century. This unit of work lets pupils look a seminal and iconic incident in early American history closely associated with the Scotch-Irish. It traces the events of the siege and provides opportunities to work independently or in a guided fashion to learn more. There are 9 individual units of work within ‘The American Connection’. Within each there are multiple tasks for the pupils to complete. The seven units are: • On Eagle Wing • The Journey • In the New World • The Ulster-Scots and the American War of Independence • The Lewis and Clark Expedition • Remember the Alamo • Presidential Connections • Famous Scotch-Irish Americans • Bringin it a tigether There is also additional material provided on some trails and visits which schools might wish to undertake to develop work on this theme. Each unit includes work for one or more of the Key Stage 3 Curriculum Areas. The units can be used as stand-alone activities although they follow on from each other and working through the entire set would give a wider appreciation of the involvement of Ulster-Scots emigrants and their descendents in the shaping of the United States of America. It is not necessary for every pupil to complete every task within a unit. Tasks are set to suit different Learning Styles so it would be useful for pupils to complete the Learning Styles Quiz (Appendix 1) before beginning so that they have some understanding of which tasks will suit them best. Pupils should be encouraged to choose a variety of different types of tasks not just their preferred learning style. There are also tasks to develop Communication and ICT skills in line with the CCEA revised Key Stage 3 Curriculum. The American Connection’ Teachers’ Notes with background and additional information are provided along with some useful website addresses. Where appropriate Answer Sheets e.g. President Word Search are included. The Curriculum Areas, Skills and Learning Styles are identified for each task and appropriate assessment opportunities have been included and assessment criteria provided. BACKGROUND Who are the Ulster Scots? NOTES You have probably heard the term ‘Ulster-Scots’ before but you may not be exactly sure what it means or to whom it refers. It applies to those people in the province of Ulster (the nine counties including Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan) who can trace their roots back to Scottish settlers in the north of Ireland. From earliest times there has always been movement across the Irish Sea between Ireland and Scotland. At its closest point the distance between the two countries is only 15 miles. At a time when transport by land was often slow, cumbersome and dangerous the short trip across the water by boat was a better option especially for trade. Farmers regularly brought goods and livestock across to sell in the north of Ireland. From 1607 King James I (James VI of Scotland) established the policy of the Plantation of Ulster. Within 30 years approximately 100,000 Scots and 20,000 English had made the move and settled in Ulster. A rebellion by the native Irish population in 1641 which resulted in mass killings of settlers slowed the flow of movement across the Irish Sea for a time but by 1672 the settlers were present in such large numbers that they had established a stronghold. Inward movement from Scotland continued. It is estimated that about 50,000 Scots settled in the years immediately after the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. As is easy to understand due to their proximity to Ayrshire, it was the counties of Antrim and Down which became home to most Scots, although there were significant numbers in Tyrone and Donegal too at the beginning of the Plantation. The English settlers tended to congregate in Armagh and Fermanagh while Londonderry and Cavan had settlers from both countries. Monaghan really only had one settlement known as Scotstown. Again, looking at a map, it is not too surprising that the areas of Scotland from which most settlers came were those near Ulster. Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Argyllshire and Lanarkshire, Edinburgh, the Lothians and Berwickshire. A small number came from further north around Aberdeen and Inverness. Ulster then in the 17th century had a majority Protestant (and mainly Presbyterian) population. The Ulster-Scots as they came to be known were engaged in trade and farming and are especially associated with the linen and wool manufacturing industries. However, due to English self-interest leading to a ban on the export of Irish products, and the Test Acts not only discriminating against their non-conformist beliefs but denying them public office, problems with land tenure with many small farmers being charged exorbitant rents or being forced off the land and finally a series of bad harvests resulting in famine in 1740-1, many of the Ulster-Scots made the move onward to America. It is their story which the students are studying in this unit of work. BACKGROUND The American Connection NOTES During the eighteenth century, it is estimated that approximately a quarter of a million people left the north of Ireland and set sail for the shores of America. Most of them came from among the Scottish Presbyterians whose ancestors had themselves moved to Ulster during the years of the Plantation. This is the largest number of people from any group to leave the British Isles and move to North America in the eighteenth century. The year 1717 marks the beginning of this mass emigration of Ulster-Scots to the American colonies. By 1775 the original emigrants and their dependents made up 15% of the non-Indian Americans in the colony, and a much higher proportion in particular states like Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky. They formed, after the English, the most influential section of the white population. Ulster Scots emigration continued into the 19th century although greater numbers of Irish Catholics were emigrating by this time. Today it is estimated that between 25 and 27 million people in the United States of America can trace their ancestry back to Ulster-Scots or, as it is often called in the USA, Scots-Irish (Scotch-Irish) roots. The terms ’Scottish-Irish’, ’Scots-Irish’ and ’Irish-Scots’ had been used in Elizabethan times to describe the Scottish inhabitants of parts of Ulster. As early as 1573 Queen Elizabeth used the expression ’Scotch-Irish’ in a Letters Patent. ‘Scotch-Irish’ was first used by Americans in 1695 to refer to the newcomers in Maryland and it is often used by historians to differentiate the Presbyterian migrants from the later Irish Catholic migrants of the nineteenth century. Nowadays most British historians use the term ‘Ulster-Scot’. The first impetus to emigrate to the New World from Ulster appears to have evolved from a desire to “spread the gospel”.